Throughout his career as a painter, Edward Cooke travelled extensively in Europe, visiting France, Holland, Italy, Spain, North Africa and Scandinavia. Paintings and drawings resulted from all his travels, but it is evident that the places that provided the strongest fascination for him besides the southern coastline of England were the beaches and estuaries of Holland and the topography of Venice and Italy.

This pencil drawing concentrates exclusively on the bow of a boat. It was made during his first Mediterranean tour of 1845–46, when he travelled through the south of France, to Florence, Rome, Salerno and Capri. Ventimiglia is a frontier town on the Franco-Italian border on the Gulf of Genoa, so this sketch, dated 17 September 1845, must date from the early part of the tour.